“Stranger Things” has officially started production on its fifth and final season.
Details about a possible release date have yet to be announced. Production was originally supposed to start in May of 2023 before it was halted by the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The last time Netflix released new episodes of the series was in July of 2022.
Though this will be the final season of this Netflix original, it won’t be the last installment in the greater “Stranger Things” universe. Additional projects in the works include the stage show “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” which will premiere in London’s West End, and an untitled animated spinoff series.
Created by the Duffer brothers, “Stranger Things” first debuted in July of 2016 and quickly became one of Netflix’s biggest hits. Season 4 alone amassed 140.7 million views globally, and November 6 — the day that Will Byers goes missing in the series — has been hailed by fans as “Stranger Things” Day. Over the course of its run, the sci-fi drama has been nominated for over 230 awards and has won 70, including 12 Primetime Emmys and a Peabody.
The success of the show even trickles beyond Netflix. Routinely, items or songs that are used in the series, such as Eggo waffles, have experienced a boost in popularity. After Kate Bush’s 1985 single “Running Up That Hill” was used in Season 4, the song entered the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time in its 38-year history.
Set in the 1980s, the series is a love letter to genre movies from the decade. “Stranger Things” started with the disappearance of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). Thanks to the dedication of his friends and his mom (Winona Ryder) as well as one mysterious girl by the name of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), this close-knit group of friends and family come to realize their hometown of Hawkins, Indiana, is anything but ordinary. The come to find the Upside Down, a parallel dimension filled with monsters.
Season 1 ended with Will being recovered by his friends and family. In seasons since, the inhabitants of Hawkins have to seal the Upside Down before it’s too late.
